LLA and LJL ramp up audience while PCS stalls — Spring Season viewership totals

Loading

League of Legends regional leagues are slowly coming to an end and soon we will know all the participants of the Mid Season Invitational 2023. The LLA, LJL and PCS leagues were among the last to complete the Spring Season — these leagues cannot compete with LCK or LEC in terms of viewership, but they do draw tens of thousands of fans. 

Esports Charts has summed up the viewership totals in these regions and made some interesting observations. Latin America has shown good growth in Average Viewers per broadcast, Japan is slowly gaining momentum after a weak Summer Split last year, and the Pacific League has actually been stalling for several seasons.

LLA Opening 2023 Viewership Results 

LLA Opening 2023 matches totaled 2.5 million Hours Watched. The Average Viewer number was 24.3K, and the Peak Viewers number was 69.6K. The Grand Final between Rainbow7 and Six Karma became the most popular match. We should remind you that for the latter team, this season was the debut — the day before the team acquired a slot from XTEN Esports.

LLA Opening 2023 had the best Peak and Average Viewers numbers among the leagues compared. However, because of the format, it had fewer Hours Watched than the other tournaments. When looking at the dynamics of the league itself, compared to last season, the number of Peak Viewers number on broadcasts dropped by 25%, but the Average Viewers number increased by 28%. We should note that Peak Viewers number often depends on the matchup and results of specific teams, so the Average Viewers number is a more important and indicative metric for evaluating dynamics.

LJL Spring 2023 Viewership Results

LJL Spring 2023 games accumulated 3.3 million Hours Wours, the best result among the reviewed leagues in this article. The Average Viewers number was 18.6K. The Peak Viewers number 58.3K people was reached at the Grand Final between DetonatioN FocusMe and Sengoku Gaming. It should be noted that these teams faced off three times during the season and each of their matches made it into the Top 5 of the most popular series.

The Japanese league showed growth in all metrics compared to the previous season. The Peak and Average Viewers numbers increased by several thousand, and the total Hours Watched number increased by as much as 75% — all thanks to the fact that teams played best-of-3 games in groups instead of best-of-1.

PCS Spring 2023 Viewership Results

PCS Spring 2023 accumulated 2.7 million Hours Watched. The league saw 16.4K AV and 44.6K PV. Unlike other leagues, the most popular game was not the Grand Final, but the series between CTBC Flying Oyster, champions of the last split, and HELL PIGS. The latter is a new team in the league, owned by popular Taiwanese streamer GodTone, who bought the Meta Falcon Team slot in December. 

Compared to PCS Summer 2022, the PCS Spring 2023's Average Viewers number declined by 8%, and the Peak Viewers number declined by as much as 34% (which might have been less dramatic if CFO had made it to the Finals). Looking at current and last year's numbers, it is clear that PCS is actually stomping around. Total Hours Watched and Average Viewers are virtually unchanged from season to season, and fluctuations in Peak Viewers are closely tied to matchups.

***

The 2023 Mid-Season Invitational matches take place May 2-21 in London at the Copper Box Arena. You can follow the tournament on our coverage page.